Water, power shortages strain Byo reservoirs

BULAWAYO City Council (BCC)

BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) is struggling to maintain high levels of purified water at its reservoirs due to erratic raw water supply and power outages caused by criminal activities and load shedding.

The city is also losing some of its raw water supply through leakages.

For the first eight months of 2022 to August, BCC received a mere 3 132 860m3 or 3 132 litres of waste water inflows.

This was revealed in the council’s 2023 budget of US$157,99 million announced by chairperson of the finance and development committee, Tawanda Ruzive, on Monday.

Ruzive proposed to set aside US$106 million for key infrastructural development projects in the city.

“This year, council struggled to maintain reservoir levels due to intermittent water supply and power outages caused by criminal activities and load shedding,” Ruzive said.

“It should be noted that the council operates five waste water treatment plants and two sewer ponds. By August 2022, the sewage plants had received a total of 3 132 860m3 of waste water inflows, working out to an average of 391 607m3 per month.”

Ruzive said in the same period, the treatment plants produced a cumulative 343 148m3 reclaimed water or 10,95% of total inflows.

The city received 12 247 reports of choked or blocked sewers during the first eight months of 2022 and council managed to clear 12 216 or 99,7% of the reports, while 110 lines were successfully dredged.

“In order to increase sewerage flow to the waste water treatment works, council embarked on renewal of sewer mains, namely Lobengula, a length of 370m with a 250mm diameter pipe, Colbro outfall sewer, a length of 481m with a 400mm diameter pipe and the Makokoba outfall sewers, a length of 811m with a 400mm diameter pipe,” said Ruzive, adding that the three sites were completed in September.

Council has also proposed to set aside US$252 000 to fund environmental issues in the city.

US$15 million was allocated for road infrastructure, while some funds were allocated for water infrastructural development, including refurbishment of lower Ncema Dam and waterworks.

Related Topics